| Lukas Ligeti Lukas Ligeti's work covers areas as diverse as "classical" composition, electronics, improvised music, and cross-cultural collaboration. He studied composition and jazz drums at the Vienna Music University, then spent two years at Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, and has lived in New York City since 1998. His composition commissions have come from the Vienna Festwochen, Kronos Quartet, Ensemble Modern, Icebreaker, American Composers Forum, Starkland Records, and many others, and his pieces have been performed by Amadinda, the London Sinfonietta, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Orchestre National de Lyon, London Composers' Ensemble, etc. As an improvising musician, he performs on drums and electronics and has played with Henry Kaiser, Elliott Sharp, Michael Manring, Wadada Leo Smith, John Tchicai, Benoit Delbecq, Gianni Gebbia, Mari Kimura, Jim O'Rourke, Thurston Moore, Pyrolator Kurt Dahlke, Ned Rothenberg, and many others. Commissioned by the Goethe Institute and other institutions, he has made numerous trips to Africa to collaborate with traditional musicians since 1994. His ensemble Beta Foly, based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, explores the combination of African traditions and new technologies and has performed in seven countries in Africa and Europe. He has also worked in Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Mozambique, and South Africa. My music is guided by my interest in polymeters, alternative tuning systems,
and structures as well as timbres from different musics from around the
world. Rather than working in a specific, well-defined genre, I aim to
maintain a specific musical personality in my work in a vast variety of
areas, all the while trying to experiment with new ideas, finding new
means of expression, both with and without computer technology. In my
solo electronic music, I seek to develop new ways of approaching percussion,
of experiencing motion, and of incorporating melody and soundscape into
live performance. |